1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatus and methods for altering an original image. More particularly, the invention relates to image processing apparatus and methods for making a creative image from an original image and for extracting a characteristic of an original image.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Some image processing methods for making modified images from original images are well known. Such methods have been used for color conversion, for example. In one conventional image processor, an edge component of an object in an original image is extracted from the original image by using a differential operator. Then a modified image is obtained by producing a binary representation of the extracted edge component. In another conventional image processor, a modified image is obtained by producing a binary representation of only the original image. Examples of such methods are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,182 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,765 both abandoned and assigned to the assignee of this application.
Those conventional processors paint using false colors or pseudo colors selected from among a limited number of colors to form the modified image. However, comparing paintings obtained by the conventional processors to paintings which are drawn by skillful portrait painters, the paintings by the processors do not have nor faithfully represent the true features of the original image.